Just a few months ago, a water main burst at an intersection in Hoboken, NJ. The 12” pipe burst around 6 AM on March 15th, creating a sinkhole that swallowed at least one vehicle. During urgent repairs, nearby residents experienced lowered water pressure and other issues as utility workers rushed to repair the line. The pipe had already burst once the year before, leaving many nearby residents without running water over Thanksgiving weekend in 2015.
Water main breaks have been a consistent problem in Hoboken. One local resident remarked, “It feels like it happens every couple of weeks.” The local water company, Suez Water, has reported that residents should expect a staggering two water main breaks per month until the city finishes water line replacement for over 40 miles of aged infrastructure, some of which is over 100 years old.
With only $350,000 per year budgeted for municipal water line replacement, the city faces a massive budgetary problem. This is far from uncommon throughout the United States, as the cost of replacing hundreds of total miles of infrastructure outstrips local budgets.
